"'You can't leave till you've paid your debts. I'll have you arrested if you do.'
"'How much do I owe you?' I asked.
"'Pretty near six hundred dollars,' she said.
"I nearly fainted with fright, but what was I to do? I was afraid to die, or else I'd have ended it then and there….
"That night I told a friend of mine, a railroad employee, and he said for me to keep a 'stiff upper lip,' and he'd get me out of there next trip; so I kept my own counsel, and Madam concluded I'd decided to stay where I was and make the best of it. She didn't know I was counting the hours for three days, until my friend got back.
"When he came, he advised me to play drunk, and to go out with him to dinner. He said I need never go back; he'd take me with him on his train when it went out that night.
"'What about my debt?' I asked him.
"'Debt nothing!" he said. 'She can't have you arrested. She can't collect one cent of a debt like that. Don't take any clothes, for fear she'll suspect.'
"Pretty soon I staggered down the stairs, but I wasn't drunk; no, indeed.
"'Where are you going, Anna?' she inquired.